


Fire and wood is not a good pairing.

by ManInSilverAndBlack



Series: The young dreamers [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Chara and Frisk Share a Body, Female Chara (Undertale), Frisk can no longer reset, Gen, Male Frisk, Monsters integrating in humans society, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, References to Undertale Genocide Route, Sans finally pays his tab, Soft Chara, mild alcohol usage, non-canon character surname, suicide references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-10-16 00:31:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10560358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManInSilverAndBlack/pseuds/ManInSilverAndBlack
Summary: Monsters finally can live on the surface and mostly don't have problems with integrating... except for certain quiet and nice flameman who can't do the work he did and loved his whole live anymore due to humans strict safety regulations. It's up to Sans and Frisk to find a way for Grillby to once again open his own bar and finally return to his previous live.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah... for some reason I tend to play out certain parts of humans-monsters relations with all possible drawbacks that would possibly crop up in real live while completely ignoring many much more obvious... anyway - enjoy this short story I was thinking up for a month or so.
> 
> And... I'm still too lazy to ask anyone to beta-read and still not native english speaker, so still feel free to point out any mistakes.

It was a beautiful day outside.

Birds were singing.

Flowers were blooming.

And Frisk was just lying in his bed, firmly refusing to wake up, despite Chara's best efforts to make him so.

_"Wake. Up. You little. Lazy. Annoying..."_

Yeah. Sharing body had many drawbacks, but if the two had to pick the worst one, it would be definitely this. Frisk never could sleep for as long as he wanted - and Chara could never start her day as early as she wanted. She couldn't just take over the full control - she tried it only once. It woke him up almost imediately... and freaked him out so much, it took him another five minutes before he calmed down enough for Chara to let him back in control without fear of him doing anything stupid. Girl wasn't above pranking her soulmate every now and then - but even she had limits for what she allowed herself to do. Scaring him again like so just wouldn't be right after everything they went through together.

What else can she do? There must be some other way to force him to wake up...

Something pulled the window blinds, but didn't manage to open them.

"Frisk, you trash! Wake up and open those darn shutters! I need sunlight now! I'm starving here!"

Flowey! She almost forgot about him. It was just yesterday that they came back to Mount Ebott to take him home. Of course. This small, pesky and annoying husk of her former best friend won't hestiate to do anything necessary. She just needs to wait a moment...

Three minutes. That was how long it took before something hit them in their shared forehead. And then in the arm. And then it pulled their nose, finally waking the boy up.

Now, with their eyes open, Chara could see exactly how Flowey shoots his seeds at Frisk and knocks him with vines from a sill just next to bed. She actually hoped for something more creative, but as long as it works...

"Uh... hi, Flowey... you don't have to be so harsh..." Frisk muttered.

"I DO have to!" Living plant was now really annoyed. "If i had two dollars for every time I had to do this, I could buy you an alarm clock!"

"You're doing this for the first time..."

"See? Those things are really cheap. You should definitely think about getting one. Now, if you might be so nice and _open. The. Shutters..._ "

So that's how his every morning will look now? Maybe locating Flowey in his room wasn't the best idea...

* * *

It was saturday like every other saturday. No school, so no reason to hurry anywhere. Having just finished the breakfast, Frisk started thinking about what to do.

Flowey explictly wanted to be left alone for now. He was going to play some games with him later.

Asgore was very busy lately, either working towards the general peace between two races, still very shaky after month since the barrier was broken, testifying about children who disappeared Underground (boy was still wondering about how Asgore was able to convince everyone connected in any way to case that they died in a series of tragic accidents; girl was still wondering about how Asgore was able to convince himself to try avoiding consequences of his deed, though at least it was understandable, considering his role as monsters' only political representative) or - in rare cases he wasn't doing either of above - trying to reconcile with Toriel. There was actually some visible progress in his endeavor: despite her threats, in the end Toriel didn't move away when Asgore bought a flat just next door.

Alphys, as the greatest expert on magical technology among monsters - and, by extension, in the world - suddenly got a job paid much better than she ever hoped in her best dreams... and became much more famous than she ever feared in her worst nightmares. She somehow was still able to find time for her friends, so it wasn't that bad. Or so she was trying to cheer herself up.

Undyne was trying to help her as much as possible. Emphasis on "trying" - with her methods of fixing machines consisting of hitting and shaking them until they start working again and Alphys not letting her do anything else, it mostly slowed the work even more. And yet they both seemed pretty happy with it.

And Sans...

Knock on the door. Speak of the devil. Anyone else would use a doorbell.

Toriel got up and walked over to the hallway.

"Who's there?"

"press."

"Press who?"

"just press the doorknob and let me in!"

Short skeleton walked inside with the same smug smile as always.

"hey, tori." He winked. "how are ya doin'?"

"Fine, and how about you?" Toriel led him to the living room.

"great." From Sans' face it was certain not everything is great. "...well... i had a business for asgore, but... yeah, he's never home at this time, so i supposed i'd just drop by... hey, frisk."

"Hi, Sans."

As Toriel went to the kitchen to make them a tea, skeleton sat down next to the boy and looked closely on his hands.

"aren't your thumbs supposed to be... a little greener?"

"...And what is that supposed to mean?" Frisk seemed slightly confused.

"you see... it would be better to just  _plant_ a bomb in a home. would give exact same effect, just in less painful and  _seed-_ istic manner."

Frisk smirked.

"I couldn't...  _leaf_   him behind! He might've done some really bad things, but..."

"hey, i understand. you're really into this whole forgiving thing. but... something tells me there's something more to it." His warm, white pupils disappeared for a second, leaving just a creepy, empty eyesockets in his skull. Frisk hated when he did this, and so did Chara. "tell me... which of you two actually came up with this idea?"

Aside from Flowey, Sans was the only person Frisk told about Chara. She insisted on not telling anyone, but... skeleton was among the closest of many friends he made on his journey through the Underground, and was definitely trustworthy. And having someone to confess made it much easier for both of them to live with their... "little siamese problem", as Sans started to call it. Flowey just deserved to know, even if he was much less trustworthy.

"...We both agreed it's the right thing to do."

Skeleton still didn't seem content with this answer.

"there's something you are hidding from everyone... and  _you..._ " if not for the siamese problem, he would look at Chara, but due to it he had to instead once again make his pupils disappear so the two knew whom is he talking to. "...are trying to hide from me. and, going by pure logical deduction and induction based on what i know about you, chara, and about flowey..." He didn't really seem angry - more worried. "...asriel, right? this flower..."

"...Right."

Sans sighed.

"...you really seem set on saving absolutely everyone, kid." He looked at him with mix of fear of him and fear about him. "does toriel or asgore at least know?..." Just a glance was enough. "of course they don't... maybe it's better this way. but... ya know... sonner or later you'll have to tell 'em. if you're really going to restore asriel..." His pupils again disappeared. "...and if  _you,_ chara, are going to restore yourself... which you really should try, if not for your own sake, then for frisk's and his mental health... they'll need to know." With everything said, he sat back, relaxed. "i hate being the reasonable and respectable figure... can't ya two just reveal your little secrets to someone else so i no longer have to play this role?"

"It doesn't seem like we're doing any progress anyway." Chara took over just to tell this. "Honestly, we have no idea about how bodies and souls work. No way to save Asriel, no way to restore me..."

"...and that's why ya should tell someone who knows. i get it that ya like to help others, but ya could really sometimes ask someone else for a favor. that's how friendship works - both ways." Sans was getting really annoyed, but any further exchange was interrupted by Toriel coming in with three teacups.

Around ten minutes later skeleton stood up.

"so, tori... how about i take frisk for a moment? i actually had somethin' to talk with him about..."

"Of course, I see no problem."

"we'll be back in half a hour or so, i think." Sans moved to the hallway. "we'll be at gri..." Suddenly he seemed to remember something and slightly frowned. "...at muffet's, i mean."

* * *

They were walking through the streets of the town, trying not to look too out of place in spite of being a monster in his mid twenties and a ten years old human child. Back in the Underground they would just use one of Sans' quantum shortcuts, but since they moved to the surface, he had to redesign whole network by himself. Right now he could easily travel between his bedroom, kitchen, living room and basement of his house - but, as he explained to Frisk, creating such shortcut safe to use required perfectly knowing the distance between the places - otherwise he would risk teleporting himself or anyone traveling with him into a wall, to the orbit, or to someone else's closet. "...and actually measuring the distance... it's also not the easiest thing. monsters were always much more tolerant to anything strange, but up here i can't just walk around the streets with a measure without drawing attention, nor can i go to the town hall to ask for a permission to set up a personal quantum tunnel network..." In other words, they were both forced to just walk around until Sans could find some means of recreating the network without anyone noticing.

"so... as i was sayin', ya really shouldn't do everything by yourself... everyone asks ya for help with everything, so ya could also do this from time to time... and... uh... now i also need to ask you two a favor." Skeleton came back to their earlier conversation. "exact same thing i also want to ask asgore for..."

"And... what is it?"

"not for me. that's for a friend... ya know, you two and asgore constantly help monsters when regulations technicaly don't allow them to do something they should be fully allowed by the spirit of law..." That was true. Most of the favors Frisk (and, by extension, Chara) was asked for was helping monsters fight the bureaucracy. He already got to know local officials pretty well and knew whom to ask for advice, who isn't above using loopholes or alternative interpretations just to help him and monsters, and who would just stick to the letter as if their live depended on it - either out of pure sense of duty, or pure spite. Asgore was monsters' political representative - Frisk was more of a local ambassador.

They finally arrived at Muffet's cafe, named - as big, white sign over the door proudly announced - "The Eye of the Arachnid". It was a small, mostly purple building, decorated with web patterns. Inside, it had tiled floor with even more spider webs - both real and painted - decorating walls, ceiling and floor tiles. It was lighted by several lamps, mostly green and similarly decorated. Octagonal tables had four seats each. Everything together somehow turned out pretty nice and cosy for anyone not suffering from arachnophobia.

Muffet herself, tall, spiderlike monster with six arms and five eyes, right now was serving someone sitting alone at the table in the corner. He seemed to really want not to draw any attention, but he just iluminated the room up with his sole presence. Literally - his body was made solely of flames.

"...speak of the devil and he shall appear." Sans seemed surprised to see Grillby here - and even more surprised when he saw what exactly is he drinking. Not a pleasant look.

Muffet turned around to look at new visitors.

"Ah, welcome~" She walked over to them, trying to hide the flameman behind herself. "My favorite customers... what you two would like?"

"Umm... two donuts and a tea, please." Frisk counted his money.

"i'll have a donut, too." Sans was still looking discretly at Grillby, who also noticed them and was right now desperately hiding the bottle of vodka under the table.

"Will be ready in a moment~" Spider monster disappeared behind the counter and Sans walked over to Grillby's table and sat down.

"hey, grillbz." He pretended not to see an opened flask behind his leg and not to smell the faint odour of alcohol. "man, you seem... pretty  _burned up_." Grillby raised his eyes, as if making sure he didn't mishear. "where's your old  _flame_ _?_ i know what happened, but we will find a way. just  _lighten_ a little..." Flameman's face made it pretty clear that right now he was wondering how exactly to kill the skeleton sitting across from him. "hey, don't give me that look! i promised to help, but i can't really do much myself. i am just as much monster as you are and have just as many problems with red tape as you. all i can do is to find someone better and meanwhile try and cheer ya up. seriously, throw me a bone."

"Mr. Grillby... what happened?" Frisk sat down next to Sans.

Grillby just muttered something incomprehensible and took out a small, slightly creased piece of official paper from his pocket. It was slightly burned on the sides, but somehow didn't give out any other visible signs of contact with monster's flaming body.

Boy quickly took the document and read it.

"Safety protocols... risk of fire... not allowed to open his own bar..." Just those few words were enough for Frisk to understand. "But... back in ihe Underground you did have a bar... you personally fireproofed everything with magic... and this paper here also had to be fireproofed..."

"They have no regulations about using magic." Grillby finally said something, his voice much weaker and more shaky than always. "It doesn't matter if I can make it fireproof or not. I'm just not allowed to work with anything flamable."

"But there has to be a way! Since monsters were freed, we constantly do things that technicaly aren't there in the law just because it was made back when we didn't know you even exist..."

Sans shook his skull.

"it's not the same." His glowing pupils slightly dimmed. "there's no law disallowing a skeleton from driving a car, so paps will soon have the driving license he always dreamed about. there's no law disallowing a spider from opening a cafe, which is why we can sit and talk here. there's not even a law disallowing a boss monster from teaching at school, so it's just a matter of time before your adoptive mom will fulfill her lifelong dream. but there is a law against keeping anything flamable near open fire. and since grillby  _is_ a living, open fire, and things served in bars tend to be _very_ flamable..."

Grillby lowered his eyes and raised the glass. Sans laid his hand on flameman's wrist, almost burning his fingers.

"grillbz, put this thing down. that's not the solution."

"This _is_ the only solution. It's not just about the bar... they won't allow me to work anywhere. Aside from just drinking myself to death..."

"grillbz! not in front of the kid!"

Grillby relucantly put the glass back down. Meanwhile several almost two inches long spiders climbed up the table, carrying a teacup and plate with three donuts. Frisk and Sans paid the biggest one before looking back at the flameman.

"hey, grillby, don't worry. kid will find some way, and if he doesn't... it's just a matter of time before asgore and others in the capital bring out this subject and start working on this. you aren't only flameman there and all of you face the same problems. up until then..." He sighted. "grillbz... how long were we friends?"

"...Since you and Papyrus moved to Snowdin. Around five years, I guess."

"yeah... so, well..." Skeleton took a bite of his donut. "throughout all this time you really helped us two many times... and..." He reached to his pocket and quickly counted the content of his wallet. "well... guess it's time to finally pay my tab..." He looked up. "hey, not everything at once, of course! but... in a reasonable parts... i found some pretty profitable freelance works... perfect for me, it's mostly just doing nothing until almost the deadline... paps became a night guard in a museum... again, perfect for him... we really can help you for now."

Another mutter from Grillby was the only answer he got, but it was pretty obvious that the flameman is ready to accept the offer. Frisk finished his donut and was about to pass the control over their body to Chara so she could eat hers, when the flaming monster suddenly grabbed his wrist, giving him a nasty burn.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..." One quick healing spell was enough to completely remove any trace of the small accident. "Kid... you need to find a way. It's not just about me. It's about all of the flamepeople. About everyone who can't live a normal life due to the law that is supposed to help them. It's about our future. I never thought about it this way... but now I understand why some of the monsters were always so hestiant about leaving the Underground. And now it's too late. You're the future. You're the only one who can do this. Frisk... you have to."

"O-okay..." Boy just nodded. Maybe Grillby was overdramatizing when he called him "only hope", but he clearly needed help. It's just a matter of finding a way.

Chara bit off a piece of donut.  _Safety protocols?_ Back in the Underground it was obvious and widely known fact that flamespeople  _don't_ just start fire everywhere they go. Are humans really so stupid not to understand it? If they were so dangerous, they would quickly become outcasts among monsters, just like monsters became outcasts only because they were feared! And now are they going to make people like Grillby unemployed and homeless  _out of fear!?_

Sans noticed anger in her and Frisk's shared eyes and decided to quickly finish the conversation.

"so, grillby... there's nothing to worry about. kid will have everything done in a few days. ya have no idea what was he already able to do..."

* * *

Walking back home, Frisk considered his options. It's not until monday that he can actually start doing anything about the problem, so he has plenty of time to plan something out.

 _"You see? I awalys told you. Monsters deserve something better than coexisting with **them**."  _ Chara wasn't going to skip such perfect occasion to once again tell him why exactly she preffers monsters over her own species.  _"Everyone knows that flamespeople are taught fireproofing and extinguishing spells as soon as they start showing any magical power! Humans were already told this multiple times since the Barrier fell!"_

_"Chara, it's not about them knowing. But they can't do what law tells them they can't do. If someone just gives Grillby the permission, completely ignoring law, not everyone is going to be happy. It **would** be the right thing to do, but people would start complaining..."_

_"...Because they are evil and willing to ruin sombeody else's live just because they can."_ Chara was adamant about it.  _"If it weren't so, we wouldn't need any law at all."_

Frisk sighed, but he had to admit that Chara is right. Bad memory came to him.

_"You're speaking... just like Sans this one time..."_

_"We agreed to never come back to it, didn't we? It almost ended badly, we got ourselves killed and only were saved by Determination, we both decided not to try doing it again, and now nobody remembers except for us, not even Sans, power to Save and Reset is gone forever or at least until we find another Barrier that will let us use it and there is nothing we can do about it anyway."_ Girl really wanted to forget about "this one time". Understandably. Frisk decided to change topic.

_"What should we do? Do you have any ideas?"_

_"About mr. Grillby? Nothing yet. We'll have to talk about it with mom and dad... they always know what to do."_ Suddenly she smirked - or at least Frisk was sure she would if she had a body.  _"...And if we ask Flowey for help..."_

 _"NO. WE DON'T ASK HIM..."_ But Chara was already planning on how to ask the flower in such way that he doesn't just refuse in advance well before actually getting to know about the whole situation.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to write. I was very busy lately and just couldn't find a moment to finish it.

Flowey extended his vine and slowly grabbed his piece, moved it through the board for a moment and finally placed in the crownhead, capturing several of Chara's pieces and crowning his own. At first, girl was obviously letting him win - now she was desperately trying to at least not get defeated too soundly. Ever since Asriel taught her how to play draughts, she always lost to him. Recently she managed to beat Frisk several times in a row (playing domino, cards or video games with shared body was next to impossible, limiting their options to almost only board games), which led her to obvious conclusion that she is ready. She wasn't.

"So... fiery guy can't open his own bar, and you two promised to help him... and what exactly do I have to do with this?"

Chara very slowly moved one of pieces out of the way, knowing perfectly she will have to do that again next turn. Whatever was left of her brilliant battle strategy was falling to pieces. There wasn't much she could do now anyway.

"You can help us. And didn't you promise you will work towards making everyone happier?"

"...Did I? As far as I remember, I told you I won't do anything AGAINST it... but did I ever offer my help?"

Yeah. Flowey was definitely not Asriel and definitely didn't think in the same way.

"Don't you want to hear what do we need you for?"

Flowey stopped mid turn for a second, but imediately continued, capturing two more pieces, leaving Chara with just one.

"What is it?" He asked.

"We need someone who might... how to say it... convince people responsible for handing out licence that it's not wise to mess with monsters..." Frisk already knew Chara isn't the stablest person, but the disturbingly casual for a eleven years old girl way she talked about terrorising people was just terrifying.

Flowey on the other hand looked only slightly surprised.

"Now it's old Chara talking... as hateful of your own race as ever..." His face morphed and twisted, gaining fanged, but innocent smile, short snout and big eyes. It was Asriel's face. "Golly." He was imitating his voice too, but with a mocking, poisonous tone. "You'd think that you should hate yourself... hate yourself so much, it's a wonder that you didn't..." Face surrounded by petals changed again. Snout disappeared, leaving two long, snakelike nostrils. Eyes, up to this point humanlike aside from scarlet irises, turned completely red, with almost no visible pupils, and mouth turned into feral shape, with sharp fangs extending far below the lip. "...What am I talking about...  _you did._ " He suddenly leaned forward over the checkerboard, catching Frisk's shoulder with a vine and summoning several pellets. "YOU  _DID._ AND THAT'S WHY WE'RE BOTH HERE NOW, SOULLESS AND ALMOST DEAD." Frisk managed to take back control in the last second, ducking under incoming spell - but when his hand tightened over Flowey's stalk, it was already Chara's doing.

"Listen, you little, annoying, soulless husk..."

"Am I not right?" Flowey's face and voice were once again in their regular, mostly emotionless state, making them even more mocking. "We would be both alive... if you didn't hate yourself for being a human... and now we are one and the same." He looked straight into Frisk's eyes, curently used by Chara. "Say, didn't you two try to kill everyone? Just because you wanted to know what will happen? BECAUSE YOU WERE BORED!?" His pot almost fell over as he leaned even more, but he couldn't finish, as Toriel suddenly came into the room.

"I think I heard shouting. Did something happen?" She glared towards living flower.

"No... we were just... playing draughts..." Frisk was sure he won't be able to fool his adopted mom, but still tried to.

"I hope you two aren't doing anything dangerous." Jaunty tone in her voice couldn't hide an angry look she gave Flowey. She had every reason not to trust him, even -  _especially_ if, according to Frisk, he had no soul and no way to truly feel.

Just as the door closed, Flowey once again looked at Chara and Frisk.

"You're crazy. Insane. Sick. Why should I do something you tell me to, when I have every reason not to?" A basket full of buttercups couldn't possibly be more poisonous than his voice right now.

* * *

Yet another long day of work. Even on saturdays Asgore was rarely able to come home earlier than late afternoon.

One of the first things done by government when monsters appeared was to temporarily ban usage of any forms of healing magic on humans outside of controlled experiments. Since ban only applied on humans, it wasn't his priority to advance its lifting, but he finally had to get to it. And so, here he was - exiting the government building after several long hours of debating, showing off results of many experiments and researches done by a team of human doctors and monster healers, pointing out many examples in ancient history (and only two in more recent one - though he hoped Toriel might be able to give him some more if he asked really nicely) when monster methods of curing wounds were used on humans without any ill side effects, and trying not to think about finally getting back home.

Right now he managed to allow for use of magic in cases of direct live threat, and only on patient's own wish. There was still some work ahead of him.

Some humans on the other side of the street treated him with a look normally reserved for especially awful or disgusting things. Not the first or last time, and he already learned to just ignore it. With most people not having any problems with monsters living among them racism, while visible, was actually the smallest of many issues monsters faced on the surface. Besides, being significant diplomatic figure - and, more importantly and visibly, an eight feet tall, horned mass of fur and muscle with heterochromatic eyes - guaranteed him at least some well-deserved respect and certain level of protection from personal attacks.

He considered for a moment visiting Alphys and Undyne while he was still in the capital, but decided against it. It was 30 miles from city to the town of Ebott, where most monsters - including Asgore himself - lived since the Barrier was broken. It was almost half a hour before departure of the next bus, and he would have to wait for another three hours for next one. He really didn't feel like it today.

Twenty minutes of walking later, he was already at the station.

* * *

But he wasn't going to get his rest just now.

Just a few moments after he got home, he heard a knock on the door. He would like to ignore it, but it just wasn't in his nature. He slowly turned the doorknob and let inside short skeleton with a strange feeling that he was actually waiting for his return.

"Howdy, Sans." He led his guest to the living room. Several minutes later they were sitting by the table with two teacups.

"so..." Sans drank from his cup. "i know you're workin' hard so we all can have somethin' similar to good living conditions here..."

"...Yes." Just this one sentence was enough for Asgore to realise that skeleton has a favor to ask.

"and 'course, ya have enough on your mind and can't personally take on every single case of any monster strugglin' with red tape..."

"You're right." So that's what that favor is about. Now he just needs to know who exactly has those problems and how the problems look.

"...but you also know that sometimes a situation arises when ya have to ask for help from a friend in power, no matter how busy he is..."

"Well, it wasn't the case back in the Under."

"back then we didn't have to account for humans being different."

Asgore let out a sigh.

"You came here to ask me about something, didn't you? So just tell me what is this."

Sans slowly sipped some tea.

"a friend of mine... a flameman... has some problems. i owe him help... and some money... and now it's time to repay the debts. figuratively and literally."

Asgore pondered the situation for a moment. Flamepeople were among the more problematic species of monsters when it came to integration. Thousands of years after discovery of fire it was still feared among both humans and monsters. However while monsters always had their methods of dealing with it, humans were just now relearning about the very existence of magic - and it would probably take many years before they would be able to use it again, if they were even going to at all. Magical fireproofing was something completely alien to them - even if they knew about and accepted its existence, it was hard to demand from them not to shiver at sight of a living flame coming their way, only separated from them by invisible magical field, if even.

"Situation of flamepeople is very hard..."

"i know about it." Sans wasn't the kind of person that was going to listen to two different people lecturing him about the same thing at two different times on the same day. "i just want to know if you would be able to do anythin' for him. he had a prospering bar back in snowdin, and now he's left homeless, unemployed and drunk. and on my upkeep."

Asgore shook his head sadly.

"No way. It may take months before humans will agree to include anything regarding fireproof fields in any law. Up until this point no human..." Asgore stopped for just a moment. "...No _human_ will employ him. But monsters also have to adhere to the same law. It doesn't help our case."

Sans looked into distance.

"so all i am left with is to hope that frisk comes up with some ingenious loophole, right?" He sighed.

"Poor kid." They both said it simultaneously. "Right now he should be enjoying his childhood rather than constantly running errands in different offices." Asgore added.

"y'know... you made him our ambassador yourself. no one forced ya to make that offer and no one forced him to accept it."

"It was more or less just a small favor. No other human knew about monsters. His help made it much easier for us to fit among humans at first, but I never wanted him to sacrifice his own free time for us. He decided on it for himself."

"maybe you should talk with him? you're the closest thing he had to a dad in last six years. i told him to slow down a bit, but i'm not really sure if he'll listen to me."

They were sitting in silence for a moment.

"Anyway, there's not much I can do for your friend right now. I am busy with too many different projects. Even if everyone in human government worked overtime just for our sake it might still take weeks or even months before we can get to this issue. I'm sorry."

Sans slowly stood up.

"i'm not gonna blame it on ya. everyone knows you're workin' yourself to the bone. don't apologise." He headed towards exit.

* * *

 Toriel visibly frowned at the sight of Asgore, but let him in anyway.

"I just wanted to talk with Frisk."

"About this flameman, I suppose?"

"Not exactly."

Even though the door was rather tall and wide, Asgore still had to bend down to pass through. Human-made buildings weren't built to accommodate for boss monsters' huge size - even inside his horns almost touched the ceiling.

 First surprise came when he entered Frisk's room and saw Flowey.

He couldn't remember what exactly happened down in the cave behind Barrier - no one except for Frisk and Flowey himself could - but it wasn't a good memory, and it was definitely his doing. He was sure that the flower just ran away after destroying the Barrier, and even though Frisk made it clear that he did it willingly, intentionally and on his own accord, Asgore obviously still didn't believe in the flower's good intentions. And now this strange plant was sitting in the pot standing on the desk and ostentatiously not looking at boy drawing something.

"I told you already I don't need those stupid, useless... oh, mr. Dreemurr. Hello." His voice lacked any respect and was still filled with annoyance on whatever Frisk was doing. And yet it reminded him of something or someone, some distant memory, which he couldn't clearly pinpoint...

"Oh! Hi, dad." Boy came over to give the (former) monster king a hug. "You already... know Flowey..." He tried to find right words. "I know, he did some really bad things when you first met... but..."

Flowey rolled his eyes.

"...I'm not really interested in destroying this world anymore. Only thing I want is to be left alone and not have to come into any unnecessary contact with anyone, and yet this stupid kid..." Flowey himself didn't really act as much older, Asgore noted. He really wanted to recall just what exactly that strange plant reminds him of. "...For some reason insists on strapping me to a whellchair just so I can move around..."

"You know..." Faint smile appeared on Asgore's face. "Ability to freely move would be really useful even at home..." He came over to the desk. Frisk proudly showed him the unfinished schematics of "the whellchair". Well, actually it was more of a small cart on four whells, resembling those from a revolving chair. Asgore smiled in approval.

"I think the whells are to big." He pointed to the part that specified the whell's diameter to be 3 inches. "It would make the cart easier to move, but also more prone to flipping over and heavier." Frisk noded, wiped off 3 and changed it to 1. "No, no, it will be too small... one and a half should be good." Asgore suddenly remembered just why exactly he wanted to talk with Frisk.

"...You really like helping others, huh?"

"I just want to be nice."

"i understand it, Frisk. You're big help to all of us, but you should also think sometimes about yourself. Don't try to solve everyone's problems alone and don't agree to do everything anyone asks you for."

"So... should I just stop doing anything?" Frisk wasn't completely sure if he understands.

"Right. Always told you that you should just stay away from everyone's problems unless you're paid..." Flowey was going to start a long rant about how senseless is helping, but Asgore silenced him by hitting his stalk lightly with finger.

"No. But if you agree to do everything, sooner or later people will start to exploit you. You should learn when to say no." Monster king seemed worried about his adopted son.

"But I can't just refuse! People have their problems..."

"I'm not asking you to become deaf to them. But it's important to tell people who really need help apart from those who..."

"Exactly. Listen to daddy." Flowey once again rolled his eyes. "I don't need this freaking... HEY, LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU..." Frisk wasn't going to listen to him anymore. Instead he opened the window, picked Flowey up and placed him on the sill outside before closing it again. Living flower banged angrily on the glass with his vine, which both human child and monster king ignored.

"...So, as I was saying..." Asgore picked up on where he was interrupted like nothing happened. "...It's good that you want to help. But there will always be people, both humans and monsters, that will try to take advantage of your kindness. You have and will always your own life and problems that will need to be solved. And what would be life if we spent it only solving problems?" Old king smiled, but smile quickly faded as he realised that was exactly what he was doing for last sixteen years, ever since Chara and Asriel died. Even fall of the Barrier raised just as many issues as it solved.

"...I know... I'll try, but..." Frisk sniffled. "...Ever since my parents died... all this time in orphanage... when nobody wanted to take me... I felt... so useless, unwanted..." A tear came down his cheek. "...I don't want to be useless..."

Asgore's arm slowly descended on his shoulders and back in a gentle hug.

"You aren't unwanted, my son. And you aren't useless. You already did more for all monsters than any other human alive, just by being here."

Flowey, still watching through the window, turned away, disgusted.

"...I'm afraid... that one day you and Toriel might disappear... that I'll have to go back there... once again become unwanted by anyone..."

"You know it won't hapen. We're here for you. And we'll always be." Monster king comforted him, just like he always comforted Asriel. Young prince was always easily made cry (something Chara wouldn't stop teasing him about), so both Toriel and Asgore had enough practice.

Frisk wiped tears and smiled before hugging him back.

"I love you, dad." He wispered.

"I love you too, my son."

* * *

Toriel, surprisingly, was waiting for him with a cup of Golden Flower Tea, which he gladly accepted.

They drank silently, neither wanting to be the one to break talk first. Finally Asgore spoke.

"What is this with that... flower?"

"Frisk wanted to help him. He was already planning on a trip to Mount Ebott for a week. That's all I know. He's... surprisingly secretive when it comes to this topic... and I have no idea what is he hiding."

"Help... but with what?"

Toriel slowly sipped her tea.

"...He supposedly lost his soul... but is that even possible? A soulless monster... shouldn't he die the very moment it happened? How is that possible to help such being? And... just how did he break the Barrier with just six souls?"

"Unless he isn't a monster..." A memory, a half remembered conversation with Alphys that took place several years ago, flashed in his mind. A golden flowers... wasn't she going to create something with those? But what was it again? And is that even possible that thing they're talking about is effect of her work? "...Still, it doesn't explain that one missing soul... and we still don't know what they're planning..."

Alphys never told him about effects of her work up until the Barrier was broken. It seemed that she didn't achieve anything... but is that possible that she somehow created intelligent life? How and why?

"Not a monster, and not a human either? Do such creatures even exist?" Toriel looked at him suspiciously.

"I... don't know. Let's just forget about it."  He was going to tell Toriel about everything once he himself knows. Right now it seemed just to confusing.

King took a sip from his teacup and quickly changed the topic.

"There is still that flameman. We should find some way to help him... but just how?"

Toriel sighed.

"Can't you..."

"I can't. I don't have control over the government. I am just the part of it, and it's only courtesy of humans. And even that little power I can lose any moment if anyone learns about..." He stopped mid-sentence, knowing he is touching a very sensitive subject, but it was already too late.

"You can only blame yourself for what happened to those six." Toriel sent him a look that made him lean a little backward. "If anyone learns about it, it will be only your fault that we lose our only representative. And possibly make humans fear us even more."

"...I had no choice. We needed hope." He used this argument millions of times and it never worked.

Feeling that any longer conversation will inevitably end up in a literal flame war, Asgore finished his tea and got up.

"...And..." He was already near the exit when he turned around. "I just want to ask you to help Frisk with that flame monster. I know you can come up with something."

Toriel didn't reply. He had no idea if she is going to actually do anything.

* * *

Frisk slowly entered the room, followed by Grillby and Toriel, who for some reason wanted to also come along. He already knew his way around the building by heart.

He spent last two days trying to come up with any ideas to actually get around the law. It was much harder than it seemed at first - even after finding right regulation online and reading it several times he didn't have any clear plan.

Just as always, Mr. Rivers was sitting behind his desk. Just as always, aformentioned desk was covered in layers upon layers of papers, documents and notes. And just as always Rivers seemed so busy, it made Frisk wonder when exactly does he eat or sleep.

The clerk was well into his forties. His small, gray eyes, covered with round glasses and set deep in skull of his balding, egg-shaped head, seemed always tired almost to the point of death. He had short fingers, constantly busy with work.

Not having her own soul and relying on Frisk's to feel, Chara often had trouble associating with others. Rivers was especially hard for her to see as a human being rather than something to use while helping monsters.

"Hello, Frisk." Clerk raised his head. "What is this this time?"

Rivers generally hated his boring and badly paid job, but helping monsters actually provided something of variety in his dull live - which was why he usualy agreed for it.

Grillby came in, judged the distance separating him from desk and papers on it, and cast a quick fireproofing spell over it just in case.

"Mr. Rivers, this is Mr. Grillby..."

"One moment!" Rivers dug into the pile of papers and surprisingly quickly found what he was looking for. "Flameman Grillby Torchlight, right?" Grillby noded. "Situation seems very hard and I don't know if I'll be able to do anything right now."

Even for Rivers it seemed to be lost cause.

"Sir, I am not allowed near anything remotely flamable. I can't really work anywhere. It is... pretty urgent." Grillby steped forward. "Is there really no way...?"

"I am sorry, but regulations are pretty strict in this one case. I suppose we can only wait."

Frisk stepped forward, ready to enact his plan.

"...Excuse me, mr. Grillby, do you maybe happen to still have that document?"

"Of course I do..." Grillby took out the paper and passed it to the clerk. Rivers looked at it. Burned edges, but otherwise completely unharmed by contact with flameman's fiery skin.

"It's obviously fireproof. Exactly what regulations need it to be for mr. Grillby to be allowed to work with." Frisk noted.

" _Fireproof..._ " Rivers scratched his head. "I do realise where are you going with it, but... I'm afraid it won't work. It doesn't change anything. Mr. Torchwood won't be allowed by anyone to open his own bar - he is still a living flame."

" _He_ isn't." Toriel, silent up to this point, joined the conversation. "But he could be employed by someone. Normally there would be risk of a control forcing his employer to fire him..." She smirked at this accidental pun.

"...But with that skill..." Clerk immediately understood.

"...They will probably gloss over it, since technically I'll only work with things impossible to set on fire!" Grillby finished. "So we only need to find someone willing to hire me..."

* * *

 

"...and where did the idea of me openning a bar came from?" Sans didn't even open his eyesockets.

"Sans..."

"okay, okay. just messin' with ya. but you pay for it and you do all the actual work. i'm just there for paperwork." Skeleton stood up, convinced that everything is already estabilished.

"You still didn't pay your tab."

"please. it was back down there, can't we just forget about it?" Sans gazed hopefuly at his friend. "...we can't, can we?"

"No."

"...oookay." Sans sighed. "so, how are we goin' to name it?"

Grillby smiled - or at least did the closest thing to a smile that his faceless head allowed him to.

"Guess it will be the same as always, right?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know how the main plot of the fic is swept to the side for most of the chapter and when it finally comes up, it's some incomprehensible babble. It's because I decided on a plot without stopping to think if I'll be able to actually write it down in understandable way. Sorry.  
> Anyway - there is some rather obvious foreshadowing for another fic, this time Asgore & Flowey centered. I just hope it will turn out better.  
> Please leave a comment. It really means much to me when I see that someone does actually care about my work - no matter how bad.

**Author's Note:**

> It took me much longer to write that it should...  
> Anyway, please leave a comment. It shows me that someone does actually care about my work, and even if you don't like it, I can avoid repeating the same mistakes over and over if you point them out to me.


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